Thursday, January 16, 2014

Have You Learned to Be Content?

I don’t think of myself as a discontented person, or as an
envious one, but sometimes I catch myself hankering after something that can’t
be or after something I don’t have, like…

I wish
my writing ministry had started earlier, or I wish my writing platform was
bigger like so-and-so’s…

and then I realize I am being foolish and vain, and that
such thoughts are counterproductive.

I need to be content with my life and content with what I
can do for the glory of God.

Paul wrote the words I’ve quoted above from a dungeon.He suffered many trials and
tribulations.We couldn’t imagine the
horrors, yet he wrote that he’d learnedto be content.Paul tells us what he had suffered in his
letter to the Corinthians.

Three
times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was
shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly
on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in
danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in
danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I
have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger
and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the
churches.2 Corinthians 11: 25-28 NIV

In light of all he suffered, I am astonished by his faith,
perseverance, and usefulness to the Kingdom of God.

St. Francis de Sales wrote: “Great deeds may not always come our way, but at all times we can do
little deeds with perfection, that is, with great love.”

The following story touches on this theme.I first read this in Streams in the Desert,
and then I found it online at the site listed below.

“A story is told of a king who went into his garden one
morning, and found everything withered and dying. He asked an oak that stood
near the gate what the trouble was. He found that it was sick of life and
determined to die, because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine. The
pine was out of heart because it could not bear grapes like the vine. The vine
was going to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and have as
fine fruit as the pomegranate.

And so on throughout the garden. Coming to a heartsease, the
king found its bright face lifted up as full of cheerfulness as ever. Said the
king: "Well, heartsease, I am glad to find one brave little flower in this
general discouragement and dying. You don't seem one bit disheartened."
"No, your majesty, I know I am of small account; but I concluded you
wanted a heartsease when you planted me. If you had wanted an oak or a pine or
a vine or a pomegranate, you would have set one out. So I am bound to be the
best heartsease that ever I can."

Thank you for visiting Write Moments with God. I am honored that you took a part of your day to spend it here. May God bless you. I pray you will be content in the role He has given you to serve today.

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About Me

What defines me as a person--first and foremost my relationship with Christ. Then I have to say my children. I have six children, three sons and three daughters, whom I love with all my heart. I graduated college wanting to be a writer and a stay at home mom. After my divorce, I became a teacher and the writing became a once in a while thing. I have worked in education for the last 25 years. I've served as an English teacher, French teacher, counselor and librarian. Currently, I'm an adjunct English instructor at a community college. In 2008, I started writing again. Mostly I write about God in my everyday life, how to connect faith and figure out practical applications for Scripture in daily life. God's goodness gives me strength for each day. Let's encourage one another on this blog. And, by the way, I'm a Southerner, born in Georgia, and have lived in Martinez (suburb of Augusta, GA) for the last thirty years.